Prahlada, with Sw Mahadevanandaji, at my simple Mumbai home:)

Janu clicked this pix. Both Swamiji and Prahlada, glowing with a yoga satsang that went off well, and having reached the idea of the Sivananda yoga energy to people unused to that style:) TTC and ATTC graduates (Sivananda teachers were there) and several of my current and former students and workshop attendees  -- Simrat, Sonia, Minesh, Mayank, Meera, Indu, Naina, Puja, Puuja, Jyoti, Sanjeev, Valerie, Vanaja, Sangeeta, one more Sangeeta, to name a few...
It was a good evening,  and everything fell in place on its own...
Will upload an album, soon...
Till then, let me chill for today...

Post-satsang after glow

The hall is now quiet. The lamps lit up. The room is redolent with the fragrance of roses, rajnigandha (thanks Sonia). Prahlada must be super-tired, and as usual in denial about it. He will land in Kerala in time for a raja yoga class, as also Sw Mahadevanandaji.  How do they do it..
The Yoga session and satsang went off better than expected. We did not advertise so much, yet about 100 were there, says Prahlada, for the asana session. And 50 stayed back for the satsang.  Which is what the hall could accomodate.
The mike did not support Jayshriji's harmonium.  There was a continuous whirr of the fans which had to be on, due to the heat. The traffic's muted roar cuts into all noise. Sai tries to speak over the static, and finds out how tough it is. Prahlada does that easily, subverting the difficulties with his immense experience. Prahlada is all over the place, being both the rockstar asana guru, as well as the man who must do everything, including checking the mikes. He also keeps a concerned eye over Swamiji, for his coffee mug needs filling. Water for the throat that dries when one must speak, and clearly, over the rest of the distracting clutter of noise.
He is everywhere Prahlada. I think of all the things that should have been done, so the task is easier for him.

Prahlada holds the entire class. That is a magical thing, he does, everytime. If you ever tried teaching yoga, u will know how difficult that can be..

The food was rocking -- upma, chai, samosas.  The candles were continuously lit. The arti did not blow up in the face -- as happened last time with Sai who could hardly hold the arti vessel because it had become very hot. Sonia did the aarti like a regular priestess, with grace too:)  The prasad by Minesh Sanghavi was appreciated greatly. Lots of roses which went unused, but u know, that is the things. It was all spontaneous by the students, devoted to the idea of the Sivananda tradition.

More soon...those on fb, check out the pix there too

Answer and query

Answer: Hips


Query: Which of these are good for lower back pain and which are bad? Forward bends, backbends, side bends, crosslegged poses?

Daily Health Gyan

Flabby stomach can aggravate lower back pain. Stomach tone is essential to cultivate to be rid of chronic pain.

Yogic tip for today

Avoid sitting crosslegged for long, or on the ground, if you have lower back pain. It strains the spine by making it stay upright when it is not actually feeling weak. You must first strenghten the back with backbends and meditative backbends (crocodile)...

Yogic thought for the day

Yoga Vasistha says there are two hearts: one keeps breaking and feeling and may be identified even with the physical heart. There is another one.. often blocked for most of us (Vishnu Granthi -- the knot of Vishnu, of being good, sweet, this or that race, the subtle ego that exists on positive patterns).
Here, more on this, as retold by Ramana Maharishi, from Yoga Vasistha.

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"When we reflect, we see that all the beings in the world have two different hearts. One of these is worth acceptance, the other worthy of rejection. Listen how they differ. The organ called the heart placed somewhere in the chest of the physical body is worth rejection. The Heart which is the  form of pure Awareness is worth acceptance, it is both within and without. It has no inside or out.

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It is the essential heart in which all the world abides. It is the mirror in which all things are seen. It is the source of all wealth. Hence Awareness may be termed the Heart of all things. The Heart is not part of the perishable body inert like a stone."

Mmm I wish I can feel that Heart:whenever I know my heart exists, it always announces itself, through pain:(

Yogic thought for the day

The expanding mind will attain peace, becoming still of its own accord, if it is deprived of something to hold on to, just as fire gets extinguished gradually if not fed with fuel.

Ramana Maharishi.

Daily Health Gyan

For epilepsy tourmaline and black onyx are suggested. These are elegant stones..very stylish

Yogic tip for today

The only school which focuses a lot on epilepsy, contraindications in certain poses and therapy through others, is the Bihar School of Yoga. It suggests that jal neti may be used as part of treatment for epilepsy.

Query and answer

Answer:  I forgot the answer that engrossing query.. Is kapalabhati contraindicated during pregnancy. Actually according to the Bihar School of yoga, a mild version of bhastrika may be practiced up to second trimester. Kapalabhati may be practiced up to mid-term.

A regular practice of same pranayama practices during the pregnancy will give more pranic energy to the child. In fact, during the first trimester it is believed that the embryo is still dependent on the mother for prana and hence it is good for the mother to be to practice pranayama regularly, even twice a day.

Query: Which are is most worked in the butterfly pose (poorna titaliasana)? Choose from hips, knees, and legs?

Not so elegant, but still:) A pincha mayurasana variation

It is a cycling variation in the peacock feather pose. What I love about it, barring the lack of elegance (entire due to me and nothing to do with the pose:) is that it takes the challenge of the basic pose a little notch  higher. To attempt it, you must fall several times.. be willing to be clumsy, childlike, and not determined to reach the pose -- the last of which is the most common, and equally stupid, attitude when trying variations. That sort of `determined' to reach a pose often constricts everything you need for the pose, including muscles.

What if you fell down-- what would be the most hurt? U guessed it right -- the EGO.. It can be a heavy fellow, this ego, on the mat. As students advance, it bothers me that they allow the ego to grow along, monstrously.. An intermediate level of yoga practice should be sufficient to bring that spiritual clarity in your mind -- that the ego (the sense of effort, trying, feeling bad if it does not happen, feeling good if the pose happens, feeling competitve, feeling apologetic if does not happen.. so many ways the ego can manifest) ..can often ruin your practice. Any case, it is a like a fart that u did not want to happen! Or bad breath. For me, it is the ugliest thing in an advanced student. If you are an advanced student the one thing u want to watch out for, is the ego..

Any case, I am not sure what sort of a yoga teacher I am.. I cannot split asana practice from its psychological, spiritual, emotional underpinning.. I like tough poses because they can tone your mind, wear that fat of the ego away..

 Any case, what u need for the above pose:

• A strong scorpion, pincha mayurasana.
• Cycling in the headstand.
• Falling down -- an ability to do it without getting all rustled up.

Yogic tip for today

Ulcer treatment from yoga should include gentle practices -- shavasana, ujjayi, seetkari.

Daily Health Gyan

Bihar school of yoga:
On gastric secretion and when it becomes more or less.

Aggression and will to fight back ups gastric acids.

Sadness, withdrawal, fear reduce gastric secretions.

Yogic thought for the day

Whenever I fall sick, I either believe I have had a powerful provocation from somebody very close to me, or am detoxing:) The last few days my mind has been churning about something yoga talks of -- the sense of pattern which draws us down and keeps us down. All of us suffer patterns, and though we are by nature free, we are chained by patterns by which other people live. This we start off, even as children, to please and keep relationships going. But when you attain a certain spiritual maturity, this can create an immense inner conflict.. You are no longer thinking like most of humanity.. and then, unless u are renunciate, you are expected to live on, with patterns that most people around you live with.. This could be the most disturbing and draining phase in the yoga path:)
So, yes, a febrile state. But the fever has now subsided:)

Here is what Sw Satyananadaji says in his book Upasana:
When you think about things, when you feel hatred, love, passion and compassion, that is not the mind, there are the manifestation of mind, chitta vritti. Manifestation of mind is not the mind. Very few people have been able to see the mind at any level, and those who can, either can go insane or attain jivanmukti, liberation. Mind is that powerful substance of consciousness, whichi s formless and abstract. You can only see its patterns, raga, dvesha, kama, kroda ( anger, passion, greed, hatred)  but these are not the mind.

Today in class: ardha matysendra instruction is the big riddle

Throat still woozy.. I believe it is shouting over the top in kapalabhati:) One gets carried away, na!!

The ardha matysendarasana has been obsessing me over the last one week... Text book instructions, and my own add-ons to that, include this: Sit on your heels, settle on to your left hip. Bend your right leg at knee, pass it over the left knee. Right hand goes behind, near the hip, or arm is bent to hold waist. You will be looking over right shoulder. Your left hand goes up, bent at elbow, and over and around the right knee to hold the right ankle.

The damn thing is by the time all the instructions have fallen in place, some smart student has got it all in, while another one who is dyslexic like me is agonsing about parts of his/her limb or worrying about left or right (I used to be and still am, slow that way:) and then while watching these two different sets of students do their own thing, I turn my head and become equally befuddled:) It was funny, really, because u realise it is not about the instructions, it is about pacing -- and being able to match two different paces in a class.. U chose to be with the slower one, they are going to put everything in the wrong place..and completely confuse you -- and if you are with the fast student, they are too fast to wait for the slow one and sometimes can get some important feature askew which could also confuse you, or have just everything pat in place, so that u have stayed behind in your instructions and that can also be disorienting, somehow ..  so the trick in getting a good ardha matysendrasana happening in class, with all the features in tact, was my challenge this week!! MMMMmm.. I fumbled between the paces, and that was amazing to me since really it all boils down to pacing the instruction and see if some of features are already known to students, should you skip giving it? I don't think so.. ? That will leave the slow student behind.. I think the trick is to allow the faster ones to get through the features of the pose,while you give it for the slower students, making them feel included and then time the pose from when the slower student gets the pose in place.. The problem with that also is, that some student will go on and on and try some feature of the pose for which he or she is not ready (grasping the ankle, locking hands under the bent knee, stuff like that) This student is not slow, but just stubborn.. .. so there are slow, fast, and over-smart students all of whom will offer you a fantastic challenge in the ardha matysendrasana -- this week, every class, was an eyeopener for me. Amazing, how u much u need to learn to be a dedicated teacher.. Always, this is the most humbling aspect of yoga teaching for me:)

Yogic tip for today

If you do vigorous bhastrika after jal neti, u can get rid off the wetness in your nostrils.

Yogic thought for the day

I have a sore throat and a congested chest. But I know exactly the emotional trigger that got me into this negative zone, so I am waiting, as I try to resolve that demon inside, by organising my thinking. For me, a lot of such casual illnesses come from the mind.. and unless u sort it out there,in that vague place,  it can become a fixture in your life (read chronic ailments!!)...

Here is what Swami Satyanandaji Saraswati says(word in brackets are mind):
Man today is sick because he thinks he is sick. Sickness and disease have no place in the life of a person who does not accept or tolerate the self-limiting thoughts which are the real seeds of our myriad ailments. We stand hypnotized (wrongly) by the belief that disease and illness are our fate and destiny, rather than health and bliss, which are truly our birthright and heritage. In order to emerge from our mass hypnosis and collective hysteria and to experience health, joy and creative fulfillment, we must make a systematic application of yoga in our daily lives.

Today in class

Sharnae is into the headstand on her own, hurray!! Sonia did a neat scorpion and also Prajukta.. hope it gets better. Puja's side crow is getting stronger too. Sonia gave sun salute instructions in class today and is gaining confidence.. It seems easy, but is rather a tough thing--modulation of tempo, flow of movements and how you place them, ability to say everything u want to say without hesitating -- so many things needed for the flow instructions.
Last evening made Murthy give kapalbhati instructions, and he did it with good style!
Maybe sometime when I get trainers and set up a center, I can leave the class in their care and go off on some spiritual junket (Vipassanna in Ladakh or the Rann of Kutch, for instance, or good old sadhana intensive at Rishikesh:).

Daily Health Gyan

Always when I feel stressed, unlike others who hibernate and go into deep sleep and overeating mode, I become hyperactive.. I hate that, of course, because obviously I need rest more than activity. But that is my dosha, vata, which becomes aggravated.  In a way, it is a cunning way of the universe to create different types of personalities so that somebody did the work while somebody did something else -- the working bee and the queen bee, savvy??:) I mean, imagine if you are living in a jungle and everybody who was stressed (in

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in a jungle, I would assume everybody would be, all the time -- wondering if you were going to get your meal, or end up becoming somebody else's ha ha) went off to sleep then what would happen??!! You need some vata types like me to wake up every time there is a rustle in the grass and alert everybody else.. It is just a biological convenience that nature has created, to exploit individual to protect a larger group.. but very irritating if you have to suffer the burden of being who you are (sometimes:) thro no fault of yours, and even if you try, u simply cannot suppress your dosha.. U may only  manage it..

So, yes, to get to the topic at hand: hyperactivity..

is according to Louise L. Hay comes from "fear. feeling pressured and frantic."

Actually till now, very conveniently, I have been only writing about sicknesses of other doshas (who wants to be so completely exposed!).. but these days, am looking my dosha in the eye.. and in this blog.. so yes, I must, where I took pride in hyperactivity, confess, that it is indeed provoked by feeling pressured (the rest of it, fear and frantic feelings, have been suppressed in the subconscious so I can pretend to myself that I am enjoying my activities/hypermode ... the cunning of your nervous system amazes me) ... and yes, activity gives relief to vata, because then the body is so pooped and desperate that it is knocked out into deep slumber -- some times, even for 15 mins  I can catch a nap and sleep the real, unfettered sleep of the dead..


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Yogic tip for today

The proportion of salt to water,  in jal neti or kunjal kriya, which most people do not know, is one teaspoon for every half liter..

Today in class

(Top down, image caption: Sneha doing a perfect full cobra; Puja is almost there; Murthy in headstand; Petros doing the tricky headstand twist.)

Since I felt I was putting only my pix on this blog, decided to add my students.. Or I will end up like those yoga teachers who can execute poses well themselves, but either do not have the energy or the inclination or the initiative to teach others what they know..

Any case, this is why I like teaching.. to see people do things, often better than me:)

The mat is the friend

If one can get on the mat for a serious pracice, something special happens. U stop needing much. I think it comes from the sense of adventure one has, even in old poses. Something else too.. even if you are seriously, psychologically wobbly when things turn sour, your discipline suddenly gives a fresh perspective. I find that in such an event, you do not care enough about others to let them hurt you, you are good without getting wild with them, you accept others limitations as you accept yours, and all that, in theory sounds good, but on the mat, this all suddenly falls in place, and you are a released soul. For me, the theory of being good cannot come into practice unless you get a discipline. I find that being good can be tough when things go bad, but you can keep that chin up, be good and suddenly are released from all those other things that keep people seeking, unhappy or confused. You are in a zone where you are cherished, and you can cherish others with their weaknesses or walk away without heartbreak. This is very special. You do not need anything.. and for me that is very rich... And comes only from serious discipline.. you do not practice for anybody but yourself and that is very good, but because then everything you do is unconditional and pure as well. It is just between you and yourself, and what others do to you does not matter either way... You are in a different plane from most of humanity and you are not proud of that, just humbled that you are in that place. It is difficult to explain, but that is what it is -- strength which does not seek to hurt:)

Anyways, caught this pose (the simple setu bandhasana, elevated to another level here, with an advanced variation).. in a yoga book accidentally and tried it and even got it, first attempt:) Actually you can hold it for long, rather well I was pleasantly surprised to find...

What you need

• A strong fish pose, to be able to hold it for three mins or so.
• An ability to take the fall from the headstand --not that it matters -- but that is the sort of scrunch and contraction the neck experiences since it has no other support for this pose.
• A perfect setu bandha asana, and comfort in it  (most people suffer it:(
• And back and hip strenght, to push up and stay up.
• And balance in tricky poses.

Happy sadhana!!

Yogic tip for today

For proper digestion and stimulate the digestive process, there is the famous yoga rule called mitahara, or restraint in eating. Though the formula is slightly different, it sort of corresponds.. so while jingoists will scream the ratio is wrong here (theirs is only right, u know those types) according to the Bihar school of yoga, your meal must be split up like this: 50 per cent solids, 25 per cent liquids, and rest empty. In certain other schools this proportion gets a bit different, such as three fifths solid, one-fifth liquid, and rest empty. As u can see this is just a broad rule (like u can measure your stomach, just now?!!). So the idea is to keep some part of your stomach empty and stuff it where it keeps coming up back in your throat...
Plus, it keeps the digestive tract relaxed if you do not overfill it -- that is what animals do, who do not store food, and must eat to fill before the other scavengers take it away... we still behave like that today, though we give it many nice names... gourmet?!! Gourmand, more like it:)

Yogic thought for the day

By following this simple rule(of mitahara, or self-restraint in eating) problems of constipation, gas, acidity or loose motions are controlled.
This rule also leads to control over the mind. We have to keep our greed in check. So apart from the physical benefits, there is also the aspect of self-observation and mental control.

Yoga Darshan: Swami Nityananda Saraswati

Daily health Gyan

Eating before a work-out? I can understand a heavy lunch which effs a evening yoga class.. but for me it is a shock that people eat before a 8.45 class... Unless u are diabetic (even then, a sugary plantain??!!!) or somebody with a low blood pressure, I simply cannot understand the need for food so early in the morning unless u are going out to work afterwards... but to eat something, especially if you are heavy and want to lose weight, is beyond me.. and now that is why  I don't want to get involved with women's weight loss etc.. there is too much clutter (mounds) in terms of habits and conditionings that could just wear me out!